Today we have the very
strange story of the saraph serpents.The
covenant, the Temple, the Writings, the Torah: all of this is a foreshadowing
of Christ.
The superstitious put undue
emphasis on something, or they find
something they encounter to be caused by God or some spirit or some other
agency, when in fact none of these are involved.
These stories are not possible in any literal way. But there’s always a
reason for them.
And
so this connects all this: the beauty of the cosmos, the majesty of God, and
this weird creature, a serpent.
John in his very symbolic gospel employees this image of the saraph serpent on a pole
to refer to Christ himself on the cross.
Jesus says, “When
you lift up the Son of Man,” on the cross, “then you will realize that I AM.”
as
image of the bronze serpent healed people bit by the serpent
In
our tradition there are many strange symbols that we don’t totally understand
their origin and we don’t understand their purpose, but they can all allude to
Christ.
beginning
of Passiontide
Suffering
and pain is not the end, but simply a stage we go through as we await the glory
of God.
